kitpw

https://www.componentshop.co.uk/chg1/super-thin-wires.html Teflon coated 7 strand copper - 0.28mm. I've used it for 7mm scale signal lighting supply where two insulated wires are set in the same kerf in the signal post. It seems to solder easily: the insulation can be removed with care using a scalpel (scraping) or simply burnt away with the tip of the soldering iron.

....thankyou. Wonderful! I shall treasure it. 😄

@Compound2632's photo of the Headstone Viaduct (built 1863) in Monsal Dale reminded me of what art historian Ruskin famously said about it: “there was a rocky valley between Buxton and Bakewell, once upon a time, divine as the Vale of Tempe. The valley is gone, and the gods with it, and now every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour, and every fool in Bakewell at Buxton”. The viaduct seems to have temporary centering in the end arch and some pins adjacent to the crown. Now part of a "trail", it is not the gods that have gone but the goods.

@magmouse ("quote selection" from your posts seems not to work sometimes, this morning is one of those times!). "the hand painting ensured a paint-texture finish, and adjusted the subtleties of the letter-shapes to be those of the sign-writer, not the typographer". And all the more convincing for it, particularly when done that well. "made with plywood sides and ends, and strapping made from toothpaste tube". Proper modelling! Ingenious. Kit PW

This collection of photos of Shildon Works (NE) at various dates is worth visiting - https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co423874/shildon-works-collection-collection-of-photographs if not already familiar reference. From the collection, this one caught my eye in the context of bending stuff: Wagon components being manufactured at the North Eastern Railway's Shildon works Science Museum Group Collection Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence. There are a good few photos of wagons being built up from subframe to completion.

Marvellous pictures of wonderful glass, thanks for posting the link. It reminded me that having lived in London for rather more than half a century, I've never been inside Southwark Cathedral. When I read @Mikkel's original post about the Newbury tea room glass, I was immediately reminded of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow . If unfamiler to anybody, this link (and many others from Google) will take you there: https://www.mackintoshatthewillow.com/. A bit over the top for adaption to Farthing's tea room windows but quintessential Art Nouveau decorative glass. As an addition to my post above, the V & A's website says this "The National Art Library (at the V & A) holds numerous examples of trade catalogues within its collections. Some items entered the Library during the 19th century, and both current and retrospective examples of trade catalogues have been added to the collections throughout the 20th century." Which answers my question. I'll check it out when I'm next in South Ken: there are several different enquiries which might be answered by reference to period trade catalogues.

I'm probably wrong, but I suspect that the Newbury decorative window glass was probably picked from a catalogue: I don't think there was a decorative glass shop at Swindon! I've found before when trying to hunt down trade catalogues that there are more from USA on the web than from UK (almost none - I was looking for UK paint colour cards of 1920 last time around). This is an American catalogue for 1914. https://ctgpublishing.com/stained-glass-window-art-of-1910/: it shows what I was hoping might be available from Uk but couldn't find any for the Edwardian period - they'll be there somewhere, maybe the V & A? On a slightly different tack, the technology is quite interesting - some leaded windows had horizontal steel bars (about 5mm diameter) at regular centres, perhaps two or three per panel, to which the leadwork which holds the glass was attached with small wire ties. I think some of the glass illustrations up thread show that.

"Take Bovril or take the consequences"... a threat to be taken seriously before embarking on a 4mm version of the leaded light in that building.

HobbyHolidays (https://www.hobbyholidays.co.uk/) will almost certainly have something the right width and length in brass. The last ones I did, I made up from 0.8mm ply (https://kitronik.co.uk/products/3213-08mm-birch-laser-plywood-600mm-x-400mm-sheet).

It does... ditto, ditto, ditto, in that order. It does... one click on the link. Well found! I'll have a closer look later on (I seem to have un-retired and have a deadline to meet this week). Kit PW

It's a cold, wet and thoroughly dismal morning here in London but your post on the further development of Newbury Farthing station building cheered me up a lot - it's always good to see things beng made and made well. Just the inspiration necessary to go and get on with some modeling, so thank you for posting. The deep reveals to windows and doors will give the facade a proper set of lights and shadows - really worth the effort to get that, it'll make a big difference to the completed building, particularly when seen under roofs, canopies etc. Kit PW

I'm not sure what date you're particularly interested in but it's worth noting that a 3 1/2 year bulding programme at Moorgate was completed in March 1938. I have no details of of the reconstruction which I believe was mainly concerned with improving interchangability between the different lines using the station. However, I think it's likely that the glazed roofs which may have been similar to Farringdon were removed during the rebuilding or had already gone before then. When I was researching the MET a few years ago, I couldn't find much on Moorgate but it was clear that it was much altered over time.

The best ones I have are "Britain from Above" - https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW011125 and Historic England https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/EAW026318 (1949) but both dated to 1947. There is this on "Disused Stations" http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/moorgate/ (1905 view looking west), The other references I have are for Farringdon and Aldgate: otherwise just general Met references.

I don't now if these references might help but here they are anyway... https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/XJ107471/Moorgate-Street-Station-of-the-Metropolitan-Railway (Original exterior) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_station#/media/File:Insurance_Plan_of_City_of_London_Vol._I;_sheet_23_(BL_150118).tiff (1886) https://esngblog.com/2017/01/31/odds-and-ends/ plans at different dates. I have some other Metropolitan Railway references (which I think include Moorgate pre war) on another machine which I will look out (if they are still there) later and pass on.

As it happens, I was looking for a picture or diagram of so-called 'Euston Trusses' the other day and came across G T Andrews and his work on York's First Station in this article on Victorian Web https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/andrews/1.html. There's a photo of the trusses supporting a pair of glazed roofs with raised smoke dispersion at the ridges, each roof with a 40' span overall like the original Euston station (200' x (2 x 40') train shed(s)). [My interest in these roofs may become clearer when I do a post about it on Swan Hill in the next few weeks]. The plainness of his architectural style is what appeals, particularly the buildings where the palette of material is restricted to brickwork with relatively plain slate roof forms over. The plainness is quite characteristic of earlier Victorian "functionalist" architecture - Cubitt's Kings X is another example with only the Italianate clock tower as an embellishment. The glazed truss roof is probably Andrews at his most exuberant, I particurlaly like the small roof between the two 40' span roofs to make a slightly wider station than Euston - maybe because it was junction not a terminus? VictorianWeb allow scholarly (!) use of their photos with appropriate credit... ...and his own office is a charming near masterpiece of understatement (pity about the road sign). Photos curtesy of VictorianWeb

In spite of having in daily use a large old drawing board designed for a double elephant size sheet... ...exactly, just what I thought once it was explained. [The board was given to me together with a T square. I'm right handed but it was twenty or more years before I noticed that it was a left handed T square... D'oh!].

I guess so. But you could try https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/railway-junction-diagrams-1915/?ref_=ps_ggl_262275853&cm_mmc=ggl-_-UK_ETA_DSA-_-naa-_-naa It's the David & Charles reprint. Kit PW

Well found Mikkel! Under more information, it says on the website: "OpenRailwayMap is Open Source software and is freely available for download under the GPL version 3." Not sure what GPL version 3 is but I will look further. At least it prioritises railways and seems to have closed/dismantled lines as well - including a very obscure shortlived line in east Cornwall (1880s) that ran from Wacker Quay to Tregantle Fort so it looks as if some well informed enthusiasts have been adding data to the map. Of course, if a new, old UK rail network is developed by private companies, not only will we need a re-constituted Railway Clearing House but a new ABC Rail Guide as well. Perhaps 1923's grouping will be revisited at +100 years...

https://data.catchmentbasedapproach.org/maps/131be1ff1498429eacf806f939807f20/about. National Library of Scotland Historic Maps API Historical Maps of Great Britain for use in mashups and ArcGIS Online. Mashups sounds promising.

...I happened to see these for sale just today https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/ian-allan-publishing-ltd/pre-grouping-atlas-and-rch-junction-diagrams.

I think so. My Atkins is an older edition but the diagram list won't have changed I don't think: under 'J' it lists Mites and Mite Bs but no Mite Ds.

the 2013 edition (about 530 pages) available on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304729760126 priced at £75. OR, on Abe Books, you can get the edition that I have, all of 230 pages, delivered from LowKey Books, Sumas USA for £357.22 (+ delivery £59.88): no rush, I guess they'll have it in stock for some time yet.

Apologies, my misreading... 7' is right, not 9'. And I agree your note about the 'D' designation being a muddle with D shackles. I can only find Mites B.

Madras Railway (broad gauge), formed in 1845 and became the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway in 1908. What? Carriage of elephants weighing less than 4.8 tons each (allowing a bit for the mahouts who don't look very heavy) by rail. Where? Somewhere in southern India. When? before 1908.

Atkins has diagram J9 mites (page 126 of '86 edition: numbers 32243/4 and 48427/8) and gives the wheelbase as 9' and the reach to the headstocks as 4' in each direction. The buffer is noted as 1' 6" in length and the gap between mites as 1' 1" which makes them look asymmetrical. The bolsters are centrally located with a centre to centre dimension of 16' 1" ( I haven't checked the arithmentic but assume that adds up). There's also a photo dated to 1912 of two pairs on page 127, rather small, and the picture caption notes "by the time of the photograph, oil boxes fitted". The caption also notes that on both pairs, the bolsters swivel, "on newer pair bolsters ride over shallow steel kerb rail, on older pair wooden planking cut away to allow swing on curves". Atkins adds that these Mites are Mite Bs as they have D shackles fitted. The Didcot Mites are Mite D but Ds don't appear in the list of J diagrams in Atkins - not sure what gives the Didcot Mites their D designation. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GWR_'MITE_D'_No.32338.jpg at Didcot.